Solenoid operated valve



W. ERNST ET AL SOLENOID OPERATED 'VALYE April 24, 1945.

Filed April 1, 1942 Z Jmmwau S WALTER ERNST 4" DAVID cnoss. Mmabv &

I shift the 'position. a e

A mrther obiect oi the invention consists in theinvention;

valve system oithe invention.

Patented Apr. 24, 1945 U -n20- srmrs PATENT OFFICE-" Walter Ernst and David cross, -Mount Gilead,

Ohio, assig'nors to The Hydraulic Development Corporation-Inc, .tion of Delaware Wilmington, DeL, acol'l 'fl- Application April 1, 1942, Serial No. 431,302

ticular, tosolenoid-operated valves.

Particularly in connection with press systems in which the supply pressure fluid to the press cylinder is controlled by solenoid operated valves,

it was necessary heretofore to provide a lever sys-. I

temhaving one end connected to the solenoid and the other end to the valve member in order to enable arelatively small solenoid to elect the desired movement of the valve member. Aside from p i the fact that such a lever system complicates the structure, it-sometimes happens that the lever system breaks when the valve member encounters too-great a resistance or sticks.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved valve structure which will make it poscylinder i having reciprocablymounted thereina ram 2 made up of a press pis'toml andpistonrod 4. Connected with the piston rod 4 is a platen with a platen arm I which has adiustably conn'ected thereto a control rod I.

The control rod I is adapted to connected in any desired manner, for instance by screws or welding, to a collar ll, which,in its turn, is connected to the valve casing ll l-in any- 7 desired manner, torinstsnce by means of screws sible to eliminate the lever system heretofore provided for connecting the valve member with the solenoid actuating the latter.

It isanother object ofthe invention to provide a valve structure comprising a re'ciprocable valve member inconnection with a solenoid, in which the valve member is directly acted upon by the armature oi the solenoid.

Still another object consists in the provision of avalve structureas set forth in the preceding paragraph in connection with press in which the press ram has movably connected therewith an element adapted directly-to actuatethe armature of the solenoid'so as to cause the latter to the-provisionoi animprovedvaive a prising a in connecbetween-the", said solenoid, the: said valve lowing specification in conncction Figure 1 "diagrammatically iliustrates a, press circuit comprisingitbe fvalve system to valve into an intermediate or neutral tion with a solenoid, 'inwhich'thevflve isin alisnment with the solenoidand operable I thereby, while nopositive is' A -";'Rec iprocably mounted adetailotl igurez for shortening the total length of the structure. @Reierring tothe drawing in-detail, the press circuit according to Figure 1 comprises a press oil seal it in a-cap 40 connected in anydesired II. -The valve casing Ii is adapted to communicate through a conduit It :with the upper portion i of themes cylinder l'and through a conduit It with the lower portion 01 the said press cylinder; -V The conduit vII is adapted to convey fluid from a pump it to the casing ll, .while a conduit II establishes fluid connection between the fluid tank l8 and the suction side or the piimpt l 8. Branching of! irom the conduit It is a conduit it com prising a,pressure relief valve 20 and leadingito the tank I8; The conduit it is adapted to communicate through conduit 2! with the valvecas mg i I.

- As will be It comprises an inlet port 22 which 'isconnected with conduit II, and two ports 23, 24, of which the port 23 is connected with the conduit ll, whilethe port 24 is connected with the conduit I l. The casing is furthermore provided with a main bore 2| comprising a plurality of sections separated irom'each other by theannular chambers II, 21, II, 20 and It. The chamber 2'! communicates through a passageway 3| with the port catewiththeconduittl,

in themainib re 25- is a valve member, generally designated .34, which two spaed pist ns" and it. each of which isprovided with annular grooves 31. The valve member 34 has an extension 18 passing through a. closure member tt inthe bore-1i and through an oil seal 40 arranged in collarll.

The extension ll abuts the armature 8 oi the I solenoid I. Means. for instance a screw liensatin: agroove l2 inthe as provided,

for preventing the armature I from accidentally leavingtbesolenoidlf Thevalve member has a further extension 7 passing'through a closure member 44 and an seen from, Figure 2, the valve I manner to the casing ii. The free. end of the extension at is threaded into an abutment member 4'5 engaged by one end of the spring 38, the other end of which abuts the bottom of the cap :36. The abutment-member M is reciprocable in the'bore 49 of the cap :36. Y

The structure of Figure 3 substantially corresponds to that of v Figure 2, with the exception that the annular grooves 31 in the pistons 35 and 36 are omitted, whereas annular grooves 50 are provided onthe inside of thebore 25 between the chambers 21a, 28a, 29a and 30a. Inasmuch as otherwise the structure of Figure 3 corresponds to that of Figure 2,.corresponding parts have been designated with the same reference numerals as in Figure 2, however, with the additional letter a.

Referring now to Figure 4, the same shows a portion of a slightly shorter armature of a solenoid. which otherwise substantially correspends tothe solenoid -9. The armature 5| is adapted to engage a threaded portion 52 of the valve shaft 53 which substantially corresponds to the'valve shaft 38 of the valve shown in Figures 2 and v As will also be clear from Figure 4, the collar 5 substantially corresponds to the collar ill of Figure 2 and has a recess 55,-the bottom portion of which is engaged by one end of. a spring 56, while the other end of thespring engages an adjusting nut 57. The adjusting nut 51 is held in its position by means of a locking nut 58. The spring 56 continuously urges the shaft .53 and, thereby, the valve member 34 into its extreme lowermost position. When the valve of Figure 2 is modified according to Figure 4, the threaded portion 52 at the upper endof the extension ds, as well as the abutment. member 41, the spring wardly so that the extension 38 of the latter enases the armature a of the solenoid o and moves duit l4 into the lower portion of the press cylin- 48 and the cap at are superfluousand may-be omitted. The oil seal d5 may then be held on the valve casing in any desired manner.

As will be clear, themodification of Figure 4 makes it possible to shorten the total length of "the valve, unit materially. If the spring 58 is to be adjusted, itis merely necessary to 'slig htly withdraw 'the screws ti and then to withdraw the armature 8, whereupon the nuts 51, and 58 may easily be adjusted by a, wrench introduced through the solenoid bore 59.-

- The operation of the valve system according 'to: the invention-may best be described in con-' nection with the circuit shown in-Flgu-re 1,

It may be assumed that its desired tohave the press systemof Figure 1" perform aworking cytge. To this end, the-operator starts the pump 46-. 'and, in any desired manner, energizesthe solenoid 9. Energization of the solenoid 9 causes the armature 8 to move upwardly into the posi ,tion shown in Figure 2, in'whi'chposition'fluid connection is established between'tlre ports 22 'and 23,'while the'port g4 communicates through j chambers 21 and 26 with gm conduit 21,. Conse-l quently, pressure fluid from the pump I6 is passed through the port 22 of the valvecasing l l,'cham--. bers 28 and 29,port 23 and conduit. into the der I, while fluid expelled from the upperportion of the press cylinder l passes through conduit l3, valve port 23 and chamber 30 into the conduit 2| and from there to the tank l8. The ram 2,. therefore, moves upwardly.

When the ram 2 approaches the end of its retraction stroke, the control rod I, connected to the platen arm 6, engages the lower end or the armature 8 and moves the latter upwardly so that the pistons and 36 closeithe passageways 3| and 33 Since, then, no fluid can escape from nor be supplied to the press cylinder I, the ram 2 comes to a halt, while the pressure fiuid delivered by the pump I6 is by-passed to the tank l8 through the pressure relief valve 20. The press is then ready for-a new cycle,

As "will be clear from the above, the valve system, acbording t6 the invention, has completely eliminated." the. lever system heretofore necessary for conveying the movement of the solenoid armature'to the valve member. This advantageous structure has been materially favored by the grooves 31 in the pistons 35 and 36,or the grooves in the bore 49, as shown in Figure .3, since these grooves virtually completely balance the pressureon all sides of the valve member and, thereby, facilitate the shifting movement thereof It will furthermore be noted that, the armature acts as an intermediate or connectin link when, at the end of the retraction 'stroke, the

' platen arm 5 and control'rod I connected thereto upperportion of the press cylinder], while fluid 1 is expeiled' from beneath the piston 3 through the conduit", port 24,;chambers 2|.-and 26 to the tank' l8. Asa result thereof, the ram 2 moves. -downwa rdly.'

when the ram 2 reaches-the end of its downward or working stroke, the solenoid 9 .isdeenergized, as is standard practice, whereupon the spring 48, which was previously compressed by the upward movement-of the valve member-34, ex-

2 panda and'moves'the, valve member downwhat we claim as new and desire to engage and move said valve member into a first.

pre etermined, position, a spring casing associate ed with said-valve casing, spring means mounted;

shift the valve-into the intermediate or neutral position.

It will, of course, be clear that if the structure of Figure 2-is modified according to Figure 3 or Figure l .,such modification will not change the operation as described above.

It will be understood that we desire to comprehend within our invention such modifications as come within the scope .ofthe claims.

Having than fully described our invention, secure by Letters Patent, is:

. 1. In combination, a valve comprising a. valve casing and a valvemember reciprocably mounted in said casing, a solenoid armature arrange ment in axial alignment with .said valveand having one ef'ement thereof operable to directly in said spring and interposed betwee said solenoid-armature arrangement and an abutmentmearthe adjacent end of said valve member for. continuously urging said valve member into a second predetermined position,-

.andadjustirig means operated I of said solenoid armaturearrangementfor adfrom the outside' justing' the-thrust of said spring means, said armature being removable to effect said adjust.-

ment.

2. In combination, a valve omprisin'g a.cas-' ing and a. valve member reciprocably mounted" "in said; casinggsl. solenoid connected to said cas ing, an;armature. controlled by saidsolenoid,

and'operable to engage and move said valve member into a first predetermined position,

yielding means mounted in said casing for bias-' ing the valve in one directim and being located at and actinz on the armature end of said 'valve'membef for continuously urging said valve member into a. secondpredetermined position,

' said casing.

and means operable from the outside of and thtoush' saidsolenoid for adusting said yieldingmeans without disconnecting said solenoid from wsm'm ERNST. -DAVID (moss. 

